Title page for ETD etd-1114101-125240

Mass Media Ethics Vs. Ethnicity: The Cuban American National Foundation's Battle with the Miami Herald

Degree

Master of Mass Communication (M.M.C.)

Department

Mass Communication

Advisory Committee

Advisor Name

Title

David Perlmutter

Committee Chair

John M. Hamilton

Committee Member

Laura Lindsay

Committee Member

Keywords

cuban-americans

mass media

Date of Defense

2001-11-02

Availability

unrestricted

Abstract

In 1992, a prominent Cuban-American organization, the Cuban American National Foundation, launched a full-scale campaign against the Miami Herald following an editorial against the Cuban Democracy Act, sponsored by Congressman Robert Torricelli, (D-NJ). The bill, which the Foundation endorsed and helped craft, was aimed at tightening the loopholes on the U.S. embargo against Cuba. Two men-CANF Chairman Jorge Mas Canosa and Herald publisher David Lawrence-represented opposing sides of the feud. CANF galvanized the exile community to support its side of the debate. The Herald used its opinion and editorial pages to argue against Mas's charges that the newspaper attacked the values and culture of the Cuban-American people. The opposing sides symbolized two distinct paradigms of culture and politics that were vying for control over setting the agenda in Miami's public opinion sphere. The battle between a powerful Cuban exile organization and Miami's daily newspaper is a defining moment for journalism in the twenty-first century. It also serves as a cautionary tale for daily newspapers in highly multicultural and heavily populated metropolitan areas of the nation still struggling to meet the needs of their audiences while adhering to the tenets of American journalism. A historical analysis sets the groundwork for future qualitative and quantitative analyses.